July 25, 2012

The Silly Season, not so silly,

The Driver's championship is all well and good but it's the Constructor's championship that brings the big bucks to the teams. Points are dollars and no rumor is casual in the Formula One shark tank.

Don't discount strategic thinking when you hear talk of , say, Webber talking to Ferrari. Ferrari may or may not have had an interest in signing @aussiegrit but that "conversation", which certainly did happen, had the net effect of forcing Red Bull's hand early.

Before Webber resigned, on the heels of his very timely win at Silverstone, Red Bull was most certainly weighing the possibility of poaching Hamilton. That option is now almost closed off in the short term.
What does that mean? that Ferrari has potentially forced Red Bull into not having the team they would want to have and they have limited the option of the driver with the most raw speed in F1, Hamilton, to move to a new situation he clearly was looking for.

After Webber's signing you heard Webber say he "preferred Red Bull". Yet RBR only offered him a one year renewal and those words were likely suggested by Red Bull management. Hamilton also, right after Silverstone started proclaiming his love for Mclaren, his best or even only option, again.

Ferrari does have to find a replacement for Massa who after a brief return to form made a mess of his race in Germany. Massa is paid like a Hamilton, why would Ferrari keep him even if he agreed to a drastic pay cut. Ferrari, against all predictions, finds itself with a super competitive package, one that might attract the big guys. I'd look for a driver who is consistent and professional to fill the gap until the post Alonso phase.

Vettel is 100% at RBR? Probably. Is Ferrari interested in him for real? Yes, certainly in the longer term. Has he signed anything? Maybe but with all the talk Ferrari have succeeded in injecting a measure of uncertainty in both of its top rivals at a time when their own top driver is sitting pretty and quite comfortable within the team, the effect has been tangible.

3 comments:

Webber had almost certainly signed a new deal with Red Bull before Silverstone, but he probably wanted a multi year deal. Most of the respected F1 journalists believe that Vettel has some sort of pre-contract with Ferrari which kicks in if Ferrari meet certain performance targets. Vettel would be smart to have a long term option, Red Bull are not a team that will be in F1 for the long term, it is just a marketing exercise for Dietrich. The day he pulls out so will all the money.I believe Lewis has no better option than to stick it out at McLaren.

I was reading Autosprint this morning and it claims that Ferrari's two options are Vettel and Button. However I think this begs the question, how does Fernando feel about having a potentially super-competitive team mate?

It's a pity Kubica's comeback can't be confirmed (or denied) yet, I think him and Alonso would make a great team at Ferrari: Kubica speaks Italian, he's raced in Italy forever, and him and Alonso are pretty good buddies.

Udpated status (if you can call it that) on Kubica, including links to a recent Autosport print article, here: